E.Coli Outbreak Linked to KFC, Taco Bell Lettuce

[1]Canadian health officials are attributing an E. coli outbreak in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Ontario[2] to lettuce used in meals sold at Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM[3]) KFC and Taco Bell restaurants.

There were 21 confirmed cases of the dangerous E. coli O157 strain in the three provinces over the past two weeks. All of the afflicted are expected to recover, CBC News noted.

Investigators traced the source of the outbreak to contaminated lettuce sold to the restaurants by produce provider FreshPoint. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has ordered a recall of FreshPoint lettuce products.

Health experts say that they could not identify the exact KFC/Taco Bell restaurants involved in the outbreak, since the victims had reported eating a number of different locations.

With the affected lettuce recalled, no additional cases of E. coli-related illness are expected.